Review: ‘White Noise’ Is an Absurdist Comedy That Proves Again Adam Driver Is an Acting Force of Nature
Noah Baumbach’s latest written-and-directed-by film is an adaptation of Don DeLillo’s postmodern American novel White Noise, one of those books that have been deemed as unadaptable… until someone comes along and does it.
Adam Driver reunites with his Marriage Story director to play Jack, one of the leading voices in Hitler Studies in North America, a man haunted by his own mortality, and the live-action representation of the “this is fine” meme. He is married to Greta Gerwig’s Babette, and together they are raising a whole brigade of children. The first act of the film contextualizes their lives and most common problems, including frequent visits to the most organized grocery store to ever exist. But there’s more than meets the eye — besides their mundane issues, like work schedules or how to pay bills that aren’t mailed to them, the film kicks off with an argument between Jack and Babette over who should die first.
It seems simple enough, but it represents a window into their psyche and the first existential problem posed by the film. White Noise is all about our deepest concerns, an attempt to make us deal with our most profound fears once everything else has settled down. The two of them are seemingly happy together, have figured out the economics and logistics of how to successfully raise four children, and are overall satisfied with their jobs. Issues that most people in the 21st century do not have figured out in the least, which means today we are not psychologically prepared to face the questions we will have to face sooner rather than later. What happens when all of this is done? Do I prefer to be left alone in this world by my partner, or do I prefer to go first and leave them alone?
Don Cheadle as Murray and Adam Driver as Jack in Netflix’s White Noise.
White Noise is radically different from the last Baumbach-Driver collaboration; it’s an absurdist comedy so carefully threaded that it takes a while to realize it’s completely over the top. Driver continues to prove he may be among the top 3 most talented actors working today, and the range of the movies he’s making speaks to his intent to leave an indelible print on film history. Just in the last 15 months he’s made Annette, The Last Duel, House of Gucci, and now White Noise, and he’s delivered a truly unique and distinctly different performance every single time. And looking ahead in 2023, he’s got 65, a new mid-budget sci-fi movie, and Michael Mann’s Ferrari, plus he’s currently filming Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis, which doesn’t have a release date yet.
Also appearing in the film is Don Cheadle as Murray, a friend of the family who is as obsessed with Elvis as Driver’s character is with Hitler. In fact, in one of the film’s funniest and most memorable scenes, the two hash it out in front of a group of young teenagers throwing facts against each other about their respective favorite historical figures, and then respectfully listening when it’s the other’s turn.
The main female role, and the gas to the fire in the second half of the film, is reserved for Greta Gerwig. She almost fades into the background in the first hour, only to be the main focus of the second half. Gerwig is excellent in the film, although to be honest, half the work she had to do was already in place when she left the hair and makeup department every morning. This is her first acting role since 2016’s 20th Century Women, and I was very glad to see she hasn’t missed a beat.
Greta Gerwig as Babette in Netflix’s White Noise.
The film will not be for everybody though. It plays a lot with plot structure and takes a (darkly hilarious) detour in the middle to keep our characters away from a massive “airborne toxic incident”, caused by a train transporting toxic waste crashing into a large truck transporting enough gasoline to feed the state of Colorado. The repercussions of that alone — and the themes conveyed by it — are enough to write a 200-page essay, and that was likely part of the reason behind the movie’s eyebrow-raising $80-million budget, probably the last of its kind for Netflix.
White Noise may not be perfect, and some parts are much more entertaining than others, but in a world dominated by big IPs and Avatar movies, it stands out in the crowd as a distinct and original voice, even if it’s an adaptation of a novel written almost 40 years ago.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
